The Solution
by Indee
Summary: One shot. Hikaru/Haruhi. Haruhi is left alone with Hikaru at a Food Festival when the thunder rolls. Hikaru provides her with the solution to facing her fears.


Haruhi sat in the limousine, wondering where she was being taken this time. She was getting quite used to being abducted and she briefly wondered if that was normal. She'd even been genuinely kidnapped and still, she wasn't scared when someone grabbed her and threw her into a car without her say-so.

It was becoming very normal for her.

Today, it seemed, the Hitachiin brothers wanted to take her somewhere. They hadn't said a word about where they were going, only they seemed quite happy to be taking her anywhere.

"Where are we going?" she asked for what seemed like the millionth time. She watched as buildings flew by and she sighed, setting her school bag to the side. She had really wanted to go to the supermarket, since they were having a special sale on, but it seemed like she was going to miss out yet again.

"You'll see," Kaoru replied with a wink, before turning and poking his head through the divider that separated the back of the limo from the driver. He seemed to be directing the driver this way and that.

Haruhi wondered if this had anything to do with the time she'd spent with Tamaki the other day. He was working on a project for school which required some baking, so he had requested her assistance in the kitchen. _That _had been a disaster. Tamaki had kept trying to put things in the dishes that did not belong. She even caught him putting peppers into the cookie batter.

Sometimes she just wasn't sure about him. Who on earth would even think of putting peppers into cookies?

"We're here!" Kaoru shouted with glee, turning to face Haruhi. He didn't wait for the driver to open the door for him before he hopped out. Hikaru followed and she pretended to ignore the nudge Kaoru gave him when she began to climb out by herself. Hikaru grabbed her hand and ineloquently helped her out of the limo.

Haruhi's eyes widened as she looked what was set out before her.

"A Food Festival?" Haruhi said in surprise, looking up at Hikaru and Kaoru. The twins grinned, but Kaoru had already turned back around.

"I'll see you crazy kids later," Kaoru said, hopping back into the limo.

"Wait!" Haruhi said quickly, but he'd already shut the door.

Kaoru rolled down the window half-way and shouted before he left, "I'll pick you up at seven! Behave!" He laughed and shut the window before Haruhi had time to argue. Hikaru seemed a bit flustered at his brother's disappearance as well.

It seemed this was all an elaborate setup on Kaoru's part. But it couldn't be helped.

"He just left with my bag and wallet," Haruhi said, watching as the limo turned the corner at the end of the street. In fact, she had nothing on her. She hadn't known where they were going and had forgotten to grab her bag when she'd left the limo. If Kaoru hadn't skedaddled so quickly, she might have had a chance to grab.

Hikaru brandished a leather wallet that seemed stuffed to the brim with cash.

Haruhi hated rich people. But at least this solved her dilemma over what to make for dinner. She would have to remember to save some extras for the rest of the Host Club and maybe her father. Kaoru got nothing, however.

"Well," Hikaru sighed. "What do you want to try first?"

Haruhi, who had never really been to a food festival, shrugged. They made their way through the festival gates. Hikaru stopped briefly to pay for tickets that would allow them to purchase food items at the vendors. She could already tell this was going to be a very filling experience - Hikaru was holding more tickets than he, himself, could carry and the ticket distributer looked flustered by the amount of tickets he'd bought.

"I don't think we can possibly use all these," Haruhi mumbled as Hikaru hung a rope of tickets around her neck and grinned. He handed her a pamphlet that described each of the booths.

There wasn't just food, either. Each booth sold something that was genuine to the culture of food they were selling.

"Wow," Haruhi said, staring at the pamphlet. "They have everything."

"Why don't we go with what we know first?" Hikaru offered, looking just as bewildered as Haruhi did. Food Festivals seemed something that Tamaki or even Kaoru would take delight in. Haruhi was a little excited to taste all the different foods and perhaps pick up a few new recipes, but Hikaru seemed downright flustered.

Haruhi nodded. Sticking to what you knew seemed like the best way to start the exploration of the festival.

"Here, the Greek booth is just over here," Hikaru said, grabbing her hand and leading her threw the throngs of people.

Greek? Greek wasn't familiar! Haruhi had thought of sticking to traditional Japanese cuisine, or even Chinese, since her father was always bringing home food from the chinese restaurant near their apartment. But Haruhi had never once tried any grecian recipes.

Hikaru left Haruhi near the booth as he went to stand in line, and when he came back he was holding two different dishes.

"Kolokythokeftedes or Kalitsounia Kritis?" Hikaru asked, but Haruhi blanched, completely unaware of what Hikaru was asking her.

"Um..."

"Pumpkin Balls or Cheese Pie?" he said with a laugh, seeming to be quite amused by Haruhi's confusion. Haruhi looked at the dishes. That seemed to make much more sense. She tilted her head and tapped her chin.

"How about both?" Hikaru said, breaking the pumpkin balls into halves. He held out half of the pumpkin ball and popped it into Haruhi's mouth before she could say otherwise. Haruhi chewed the halved ball. It wasn't bad, but...

"It's minty," she said when she swallowed. Hikaru was eating his and he didn't seemed to be troubled by the taste. Well, if Greek food was familiar to him, he probably wouldn't be concerned that something made from pumpkin tasted minty. To Haruhi, however, it was simply bizarre.

"Here," Hikaru pushed the very tiny piece of pie into Haruhi's hand before grabbing her free hand and pulling her towards a section of the large festival where there was a stage. She was a bit surprised by his enthusiasm. The last time Haruhi had gone out with Hikaru, she had seemed to be the one leading him around.

On the stage was a band dressed in sari's paying Indian music. It was actually quite catchy, Haruhi thought. But since she wasn't one for dancing, she simply stood and watched the dancers mingle on the grass as she nibbled at her tiny cheese pie which she had to admit was much better than the minty pumpkin balls.

Haruhi flipped through her pamphlet, standing close to Hikaru in case they got jostled around. She didn't want to lose Hikaru to the dancers.

"The Chinese booth has Twice-cooked pork," Haruhi offered, having skimmed the pamphlet for something familiar. She quite enjoyed twice-cooked pork and she knew what it tasted like. It wasn't going to contain strange flavors like mint or cheese.

Hikaru sighed.

"The point of the food festival is to be adventurous, Haruhi," he said, looking at his own pamphlet. "I miss adventurous Haruhi."

"Fine," Haruhi said, reopening her pamphlet. She closed her eyes and ran her finger along it's pages. When she opened them, her finger was pointing at a Ukranian dish called Cossack Baba. It seemed to be some sort of sweet bread. Haruhi was fine with bread - bread was usually the same everywhere, for the most part. It was always sure to be... well, bread-y.

As they made their way towards the Ukranian booth at the far end of the festival, the clouds that had been threatening to break all day flashed with lightning. Haruhi made a small noise in the back of her throat and inched closer to Hikaru. One of these days she really needed to face her fear of thunderstorms.

Today wasn't that day.

"Hikaru," she said slowly, but he seemed oblivious to the threatening clouds overhead. He cheerfully went ahead and got into the long line of people waiting for the Ukranian cuisine.

Just at the moment, the clouds erupted and rain began to fall hard and sudden on the festival goers. There was another flash of lightning and Haruhi gave a quiet shriek, running toward where Hikaru stood. She frantically looked around for a place to hide.

Seeing Haruhi, Hikaru quickly remembered that she was quite terrified of storms. The rain wasn't cold, but it wasn't entirely pleasant to stand in either, so he grabbed her hand and made for the nearest shelter - the Ukranian booth. He wished he had brought his disc player and headphones, so he could help Haruhi block out the noise. But he hadn't so they would have to make do.

"C'mon," he said as Haruhi shivered, pulling her into the booth. He ignored the looks they got from the booth attendants. "Here."

Hikaru pulled off his sweater that was barely dampened and threw it over Haruhi's head, pulling it down over her arms like a father would his child.

"Over here," Hikaru lead Haruhi over to one of the covered tables and pulled her beneath it. It was a tight space, but despite Hikaru's size, they managed to fit in quite comfortably. Haruhi shivered. "It's okay. See? You can't even see the lightening."

Thunder rolled over head and Haruhi closed her eyes tightly, curling her legs up to her chest.

Hikaru sighed and pulled her closer. She was so light and small that he easily maneuvered her so that he sat behind her. He wrapped his long arms around her and her knees, grabbing her hands and squeezing. Haruhi was comforted by this, and she meekly opened her eyes. He was right - from under here, you couldn't see the lightening and that helped a bit.

"It'll be over soon," Hikaru said gently. "It's one of those passing clouds."

Haruhi bravely pulled away from Hikaru, turning to face him. It wasn't that she was uncomfortable, she just thought it might help if she looked at something other than the table cloth.

"Hikaru," Haruhi said quietly, warming up in his oversized sweater. "Thank y-"

The thunder that rolled overhead sounded like a passing truck overhead and it was so loud, in fact, that the table they hid under shook slightly. Haruhi made a noise that sounded akin to the squeak of a mouse and she fell forward, landing on top of Hikaru and knocking him over.

She was a bit surprised when he started to laugh.

"Here," he said, and covered her ears with his hands. She was laying on top of him, and though she should have moved, she couldn't bring herself to. Besides, with his hands covering her ears, she could barely hear much of anything and the quiet was much more welcome than the rolling thunder and lightning.

It was in this shared moment of slight fear and relief that Hikaru raised his head slightly and touched his lips gently to hers. She was a bit shocked at first, though she wasn't sure why. It wasn't the first time Hikaru had kissed her - but he'd never kissed her on the lips, and she had been sure he wasn't going to try again for some time.

Her heard thudded in her chest so hard that she was sure Hikaru could hear it and possibly feel it through the thick sweater.

Even more surprising was her own reaction.

Haruhi had never _really _been kissed. There had been that accidental incident at that dance party the Host Club held when she had first joined. But this wasn't like that. It wasn't brief or friendly or cold. It was warm and lingered, making her lips tingle and her body numb. Her eyes fluttered closed and she put her hands on Hikaru's chest to steady herself.

"Hikaru," she said when he had pulled away from her. His face held an expression that seemed to expect some kind of blow or rejection. But Haruhi didn't have that for him this time. She wasn't surprised or confused, which seemed to be her usual state of mind in these situations.

It was all very clear for her.

She smiled. And when Hikaru returned her smile, she let out a small laugh and for possibly the first time in her life, truly felt like a girl - and enjoyed it.

Hikaru kissed her again, his hands sliding down the back of her neck, pulling her as close as she could get to him. She had never realized before how warm another person could be or how inviting.

This was the first time _Haruhi _had kissed someone back.

"Ah hem," a throat was cleared and Haruhi and Hikaru jumped apart. They looked over to see that one of the booth attendants had lifted the table cloth and was looking at them accusingly.

Haruhi hadn't even realized that the thunderstorm had ended and small rays of sun were peeking out from the clouds. She glanced at Hikaru, both of them blushing a deep red. She smiled and grabbed his hand, crawling out from under the table.

When they had made their way back out into the open, Haruhi looked up at Hikaru and grinned. He leaned down and kissed her on the cheek.

That was when Haruhi realized the solution to getting over her fear of thunder was very simple. And she had a feeling that Hikaru would always be more than happy to oblige her.


End file.
